True Roots of Terrorism Against…

Patrick Seale dismisses the arguments raised by the media as reasons for the examples of world terrorism, but primarily focused in nations where Muslim populations are in the majority.

If all this, as the US would have us believe, is the work of a single shadowy terrorist network, with tentacles stretching across the world, then the way to defeat it is to cut off its head and then destroy its offshoots one by one. This is what America and its allies are trying to do. But what if the West is grappling with an altogether different phenomenon? What if the war on terror being waged is fundamentally wrong-headed? [Instead, Seale argues, a more logical] possibility is that the Ã¢â‚¬Å“enemyÃ¢â‚¬Â is not just a terrorist network but a broad, militant, grassroots rebellion against American military and political interventions in the Arab and Muslim world, against Western arrogance, racism and bullying. [Via Blog Left]

As pointed out here before, as detailed in the seminal book Networks and Netwars, networked organizations don’t have heads that can be cut off. That is one of their strengths, – something hierarchical organizations have major difficulty understanding. These is no one person in charge. There may not be anyone in charge.

Al Quaeda has variously been described as a university and a funding source. They train and finance, Students graduate and form their own groups which may be in loose contact with the others.

The primary point here though is that these groups may be the radical fringe of a general “grassroots rebellion” against – hey let’s call it what it is – American imperialism. If so, they will have hidden and tacit support everywhere and be that much harder for outsiders to find.

It’s clear that at least some major part of the Saudi monarchy supports them, certainly the highly competent Pakistan Secret Police does, and, obviously suicide bombers do. For a suicide bomber to be that willing to die, pehaps we should be asking WHY they are so motivated, because yes, this does seem like a grassroots rebellion…